Amorim: Hojlund had his best game for me

Amorim: Hojlund had his best game for me

Rasmus Hojlund’s performance in our 3-0 victory at Athletic Club was his best since Ruben Amorim took over, the Manchester United head coach says.

The Danish striker was a key focal point for the Reds in one of our finest European away results. Confounding pre-match expectations, Amorim’s side overcame an early onslaught from the intense hosts and raced to a three-goal advantage by half-time.

Hojlund’s most notable involvement in that goal-happy spell was being brought down by Dani Vivian to win United a penalty, and earn the Athletic man a red card.

But throughout the night, his hold-up play proved strong, and he offered quality both on and off the ball. Amorim was very impressed.

The key to first-leg success, Ruben? Video

The key to first-leg success, Ruben?

Ruben says United were able to push forward more after scoring the first goal against Athletic Club, who started well…

“It’s hard to say but I think it was the best game that he had with me as a coach,” the United boss said in his post-match press conference.

“He helped the team a lot. He secured the ball and made the runs, and then decided quite well. It’s a good moment for him but like Harry [Maguire] he needs to understand that everything can change. Let’s focus on the next one. This is in the past, we have a tough one on Sunday against Brentford and then again in the second leg.”

Ruben’s reference to Maguire came after a discussion about the defender’s impressive mentality, having been criticised before proving himself a key player.

“I think it’s a good lesson for all the players that sometimes you have some moments that you think I will never recover from this or that,” Ruben reflected.

“Anything can happen. It’s not just Harry. The history of this game can tell you lot. It looks like we are struggling a lot, but then everything changes and people say it’s the best game of the season. We have to understand that the players have some moments in their life where they have to just keep working, and things can change.”

Maguire will rightly earn praise for his expectation-defying wing-play in Bilbao, but Ruben’s quotes are a timely pointer for fans and pundits alike towards Hojlund’s positive performance.

United’s no.11 netted a 96th-minute equaliser at Bournemouth in our last Premier League game, and will now hope this additional strong display is the foundation for an overwhelmingly positive end to the season.

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